Classes, Workshops and Seminars
in Lexington, Kentucky
Presently, four different groups on aspects of spirituality
based on Eckhart Tolle and The Power of
Now are presented at
various times throughout the year. The basic group is the six-week
introductory Practicing
Presence Group.
This is followed by the advanced monthly Living
the Presence Group. Periodically, two advanced
six-week groups in meditation called Presence,
Meditation and Awareness and Integrating
Your Life and Your Life Experience are
offered. On an irregular basis, a group called Movies
and Munchies meets for conversation
and the viewing of a movie having a spiritual message. Detailed
information on these groups is given below.
Practicing Presence
(A practice that
has no future)
The Introductory Practicing Presence
Groups meet for approximately two hours, once a week for six
weeks. Each session has a theme as given below. During the session,
we will have an extended interactive discussion on these concepts
and will use one or more of the essays I have written on a related
concept to focus our dialogue. I will usually talk about, develop
and expand on this idea during the session using a variety of
methods including music, audio, video and movies, guided experience,
and silence to develop increased awareness and understanding
of this concept. To practice the concepts, we have periods, some
spontaneous and some planned, of silent meditation and, at times,
some guided practices in meditation. I also use some experiential
exercises to enhance awareness and alertness or explicate an
idea. Suggested directions for individual practice are given
as “gentle homework to play with” during each session.
Each session includes time for discussing how the “Practice
of Presence” is unfolding in the participant’s life.
These discussions are not group therapy sessions nor debates
or discussions regarding what is “right” or the comparing
of different ideologies or beliefs. They are open forums where
honest and real questions about the practice of presence in the
participants’ life can be expressed and explored. Active
participation in the group discussion of these concepts is optional,
as is participation in the exercises, and if one chooses to remain
silent, this is respected.
The theme of each session is as follows:
Session One: Mind, Time
and Presence
Session Two: Form, Spaciousness and the “Now”.
Session
Three: Consciousness and Being.
Session Four: Remembering Who
You Are.
Session Five: Pain and the Pain Body.
Session Six: Surrender of
Self and the Keeping on the Path.
The format for a Practicing
Presence session varies but generally follows this outline:
1.Meditation
with music and in silence
2.Issues or problems in participants
practice over the past week
3.Teaching and discussion of the concepts
for the week
4.Silent meditation
5.Exercises to extend and deepen the practice
6.Discussion of
Tolle concepts
7.Silent meditation and/or meditation with music
The fee for the
six-week program is $100. This includes a copy of my book. Audiotapes
of Eckhart presentations and an extensive library of related
books are available for home use.
[back to top]
Living
the Presence
This group, which meets every three to four weeks, is for those
individuals who have completed the six-week introductory group
and wish to continue and deepen their practice of presence. The
intent of the group is to develop and expand the concepts in
The Power of Now through group study and meditation. A variety
of methods and exercises are used to accomplish this goal. Often
a selected segment of a video of Eckhart is used as a basis for
discussion or meditation. Books or articles that expand on the
concept of presence are used along with discussion of the spiritual
practice of the members to help them deepen their understanding
and awareness. The fee for this group is $10 a session.
[back to top]
Presence, Meditation and Awareness
This advanced six-week group is open to those who have taken
the Introductory Practicing Presence Group. The practice of Meditation,
the development of a state of internal stillness, and the awareness
of the centrality of love in our life is the core around which
this group is organized. Through directed individual daily meditation,
one begins to live in heightened awareness of presence and sacred
love.
There are no readings or books for this group. Group members
will commit themselves to daily meditation and the creation of
a sacred space for meditation. In the group sessions, we will
use the techniques of structured and free form meditation. Through
some specific and powerful exercises, we will focus on the process
of becoming aware of our life, our energy and the sacred presence
of love. We will discover how to stay in this awareness while
being in contact with the other or the outside world. We will
learn that we can be aware and awake to ourselves while being
awake to life. This awareness is both an essential aspect of
meditation and of our being fully alive and present in the “now”.
When we truly are awake and conscious, it is
from here, from the truth of who we really are, that we move,
communicate with and contact the phenomenal world. To exist outside
of this awareness is to live in a dream or be asleep in our life.
The fee for this class is $60.
[back to top]
Integrating
Your Life and Your Life Experiences
This 6-week class will be an exploration
and a continuing conversation about the question we may ask
ourselves when we are in crisis, can't sleep at night or
acutely aware of our mortality: How should I live my life?
We have learned what is possible in this life for the exceptionally
aware human being through our readings in Tolle and in sacred
books and poems. We have had glimpses of what it means to
be in the “now” or
to be present and fully conscious in this life through our
practice and our meditation.
Then the personal, existential
question often arises: “But
what is possible for me, an ordinary human being, right now,
in my present life?” We may know what is possible for the extraordinary
spiritual person, the saint or persons who spend their life
in a monastery, but, “how might I live an authentic, complete,
fully alive life in this world?” And what does it mean for
me to, “have clarity, be honest with myself and have integrity
in my life?” If the answer is already within us, how do we
illuminate it, make it unambiguous and integrate it into our
life experience? To find the answers, we need to look at both
who we in truth really are and our life experience as continuing
sources of revelation for how to integrate our inner and outer
worlds.
It is from our life experience
that we can derive the answer to these questions and to become
conscious of, “who
we are becoming in this life? And “What is the leading edge
of our life like right now?” This conversation will have the
potential to bring you to the awareness of the self-imposed “boundaries” of
your life. It is for those seeking a deeper understanding of
how to live more fully and age more gracefully.
Combining guided meditation and
periods of silent meditation with both small and large group
discussion, we will individually explore and become aware
of the growing “edge” of our life
and what is possible for us in this life. We will use the following
questions to guide our discussions:
1. What did you believe was possible for you
in this life?
2. What do you love more than your life?
3. What are the deep sources of the inspiration
for your life?
4. How have you matured on your spiritual path
and in your practice of living?
5. What talents or gifts are you expressing
and giving through your life?
6. How does knowing you will die affect your
living?
[back to top]
Munchies and Movies
About every six weeks, on a Sunday evening,
following a “pot luck” of snacks and appetizers, a movie that
has a spiritual or mystical message is shown. These movies are
often an “overlooked” or foreign film but may also be a popular
movie in which the spiritual theme is either evident or hidden.
After viewing, a discussion of the film usually brings out its
relevance to the concepts of presence. This is followed by a
general discussion of the significance of these ideas to our
life.
This group is open to anyone who wishes to participate.
There is no fee but donations of “a buck or two” are collected
from each person to defray expenses.
[back to top]
|
